'Laid-back' student steps into hero's role

His classmates are calling him a hero today, praising 18-year-old Tim Mickelson for having the guts to get involved in a domestic dispute that saw a woman repeatedly slashed by her boyfriend in an eastern Las Vegas neighborhood.

The fuss everyone's making really isn't the kind of thing Mickelson says he's into: Students applauded him in class, Principal Barry Gunderson commended him in front of his peers, an article about him is set to be printed in the school's newsletter for parents, and the media has been seeking interviews.

Yet the unassuming Las Vegas High School senior said he did what he did because a woman needed help.

Mickelson had tests and homework assignments on his mind when he headed out the front door about 6:40 a.m. Tuesday and got behind the wheel of his 1978 Pontiac for the 15-minute drive to school.

A short distance down the road, though, the car's odd shifting made him pull over and park. He'd popped the car's hood and was about to add some fluid to the transmission he'd recently put in when a barefoot woman in shorts and a t-shirt ran up, frantic and screaming hysterically for help.

"I put my hands on her shoulders, trying to comfort her and figure out what was wrong," Mickelson said. "All she could say was that she'd been hiding for two days and she never should have come back."

Shooting a quick glance toward a nearby patio, the woman abruptly darted toward the open front door and scrambled inside, trying to push the door closed as a man rushed up and wedged his foot between the door and the frame.

"The guy grabbed her hair and started pulling her out the door," the student said. "She wasn't doing anything and he just started hitting her. He was at least 50 pounds heavier than she was. He had the total advantage. I went over to them. I told him I wasn't going to let him hurt her."

What Mickelson didn't know was that the man had a box cutter in his hand.

It took a few seconds for the blood streaks on the woman's arms, face and mouth to register in the teen's mind that the suspect was throwing more than punches. Then, Mickelson said, the man started aiming the sharp blade at him, missing with each lunge toward his arm, midsection and neck.

Also unknown to the teen was that the victim had called 911 from a nearby house at 6:43 a.m., moments before she'd sought Mickelson's help. Three minutes after receiving the call, Metro Police officers arrived at the scene and took the man into custody.

Efrain Pena, 22, was arrested for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary with a deadly weapon for allegedly entering the house.

According to the police report, Mickelson told officers that he "went to grab something to defend himself when Pena dragged (the woman) by the hair out of the house into the driveway ... then observed Pena stabbing (the woman) with the five-inch orange box knife repeatedly in the face."

Pena also was wanted on a traffic warrant at the time of his arrest, and was served an emergency, temporary protective order to stay away from the woman, police said. His court date is pending.

Mickelson said he used some rags from his car to soak up the woman's blood and continued applying pressure to the gushing slash wounds on her left temple and body until paramedics arrived to take her to the hospital for treatment.

He wound up missing school that day, instead filling out police reports. Word spread through campus after the student called business teacher Robert Bray to explain his absence.

"I'm always preaching social responsibility in class," Bray said. "Tim's not the most unlikely hero, but he's the most unlikely to get attention for it. He's quiet, laid back. He's the type of kid you want living in your neighborhood, and as a student in your class."

The blood stains that temporarily covered the patio where Mickelson aided the woman were washed away hours later by an afternoon thunderstorm, but the impact of the crime is still fresh in the young man's mind.

"This is going to stay with me for a while," Mickelson said. "It makes you think about helping, and especially about being more prepared. If you don't want to risk your life, then call police. Do something."

Officer Steve Meriwether, Metro spokesman, said police appreciate citizens' cooperation.

"We do not advocate that people get involved to the point of putting their lives in danger or jeopardizing someone else's," he said. "We would, however, like for people to be good witnesses as (Mickelson) was."

Gunderson asked Mickelson to tell the story aloud when he visited the young man's class Wednesday morning.

"When he was done, I just shook his hand. I told him, 'You must have been raised properly to know to do the right thing,'" Gunderson said. "People carry on about the fabric of our youth and the cloth they are cut from ... This young man is someone we should be proud of."

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